Day -18: Yesterday’s Swab Event, CVC line in, bloods

Thank you everyone who came to the swab event yesterday. You really made a difference. Hopefully one of the people registered will be lucky, and be picked to be a hero for Sophie or Nadia or some other lucky person.

Especially thank you to Elham and friends from Zavieh. And thank you sooo much to Anika and Warren for being able to make last minute (literally) adjustments in order to make this event happen. The event was a huge success with over 120 people enrolled, with an enrollment rate of just over 1 person every 2 minutes. Busy, busy!

You can see a bit of the event at the 9 min mark from Global News.

Today we had Nadia’s central venous catheter (Hickman line) put in. This is the line that will be used going forward to draw blood, give medications, chemo, blood products, and stem cells. It is a very important line, requiring surgery, that goes right into her jugular and right to her heart. This line will save numerous pokes (which is a good thing). It will be Thor and Tara’s job to keep this line clean!

Of course, before they could do the surgery, Nadia needed a platelet and blood transfusion. With her platelets so low, Nadia has always been at risk of not clotting – so these blood products were essential. Thank you to all the anonymous blood and platelet donors who make this possible. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. We are happy to report no reactions to the blood products. 🙂

Below is a picture of Nadia’s blood transfusion bag, which was set up after midnight and after her platelets were finished being transfused.

Nadia’s surgery happened today without incident. Well, maybe one incident. Once the Hickman Line was in place, Nadia no longer needed the IV line in her arm (that was boarded up). The nurse asked if Nadia wanted to help take the line out, and Nadia took her too seriously. As soon as the nurse cut the tape holding the board, before we could react, Nadia just pulled the whole thing off. There was blood everywhere! And we are happy to report that her new platelets are working splendidly. 🙂

If all goes well we will be discharged tomorrow.  We start seeing specialists the following day.

Really – another good-new day. Keep the good news coming!

(Choo Choo! before bed last night)

(Tara’s excellent Shepherds Pie, prepared months ago, stockpiled and ready for just this occasion)